Salt Lake Comic Con Update – 5 April 2016

Apparently, rumors have been floating around the interwebs that Salt Lake City would NOT be having a FanX event in 2017. After numerous people questioned them, organizer Bryan Brandenburg issued a statement that, No, there would NOT be a FanX in Salt Lake City during 2017, but there WOULD be an event outside Utah, in addition to the Fall 2017 Comic Con event.

People flipped out. After the recent announcement about the worldwide expansion of the FanX brand (see HERE), a lot of folks were worried that we were going to lose our events.

It got heated.

It didn’t take long for us to get spoiled, did it?

Today, Bryan Brandenburg issued this statement via facebook:

I thought you all were into fantasy and sci-fi but it appears many of you prefer the DRAMA genre. 1) Currently there is no FanXperience scheduled for SLC next year because there is no availability at the Salt Palace. 2) This is NOT a religious decision 3) We are scheduled for 3 more FanXperiences in Asia this year. Even more nationally and worldwide in 2017. 4) We will be doing other events in SLC in 2016 and 2017 besides Salt Lake Comic Con in September. 5) When you REALLY find out what we are up to you’ll be dancing in the streets. 6) For the record Dan is Mormon and I am not. But that doesn’t matter. We don’t talk politics or religion here. We talk comic con and geek. 7) If you bash the Mormons, Republicans, Atheists, LGBT, skinny people, not so skinny people or any other group here I will ban your ass in a microsecond.

I hope that addresses your concerns.

Blunt and to the point. I’m glad he put out such a strong statement, but I am also somewhat upset that it took such rumor-mongering and badgering on the part of the fans to get him to do so. Sometimes I think Bryan lets his penchant for teasing and obfuscation get the better of him, and while he and Dan Farr are well within their rights to hold back certain information, such as details of the “other events,” they may have underestimated the rabidity of their fan-base here, and how that might play.

Communication is a 2-way street, and I don’t think they were quite mindful of the semi-truck of geekdom that had crossed the double yellow line into their lane. They should have been up-front with the fans about next year’s FanX. A simple statement would have sufficed. Get it out, get it over with. Get ahead of it.

But they didn’t.

So, now that Bryan has cleared it up so definitively, everyone can go back to their lives and continue to guess what guests they have lined up for this September for Salt Lake Comic Con 2016.

3 thoughts on “Salt Lake Comic Con Update – 5 April 2016”

But it is ultimately a business. Bryan and Dan do and can do what they please. Dan Farr is only in this for his ego and money. He doesnt care about the fans or Utah. So why would he tell us before they need or want to? And how entitled is this world to ask for that?

No offense, Nora, but you sound like someone who has issues with Dan and Bryan outside of this one event. Yes, they are entitled to make money. This is still a business. I was talking about alienating their fan-base. Breathe.